Concerned by the wipeout of the last few local prairie dog populations by recent construction, a group of Stapleton residents has formed a protest group. The new group, Prairie Dog Devastation Liberation Effort of Stapleton (PDDLES), is led by Eastbridge Resident, Dawn Ross.

“Forest City claims there are so many prairie dog populations in and around Denver, that it is not practical or necessary to relocate our Stapleton Prairie dogs,” says Ross. “They propose to exterminate them instead.”

PDDLES has been formed to raise funds, either to privately relocate the prairie dogs or create a local reserve somewhere in the area where they can continue to live in peace.

“This slaughter of our local prairie dogs is inhumane,” says Ross, a strong proponent of a prairie dog reserve. “We need to protect our own – I mean, once a Stapleton resident, always a Stapleton resident, right?”

A key part of PDDLES’ fundraising will be a 2016 Prairie Dogs of Stapleton calendar and Ross is unperturbed by claims of plagiarism.

“Yes, of course we are borrowing the concept from the MCA’s Dogs of Stapleton calendar,” says Ross. “Why come up with anything new when there is something so successful we can piggyback on?”

The calendar shows 12 individual prairie dogs from different populations around Stapleton, doing what comes naturally to prairie dogs.

“The prairie dogs turned out to be quite remarkable subjects,” says photographer Laura McDonald, who, like the other two photographers involved, donated her time to the group. “Their activities are really quite fascinating and once they got used to the camera, it almost seemed like they were cooperating.”

PDDLES anticipates that the calendar will be at least as successful as the Dogs Of Stapleton calendar, but also warns the content may not be quite as family friendly.

“Miss March, in particular, proved to be really quite alluring when it came to posing in front of the camera lens,” says McDonald. “It’s not a calendar I would be hanging in my child’s bedroom.”